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Thursday, March 30, 2006
Ng: Immigration laws
By
Wilson Ng
Wired Desktop
One of the big news stories this week was on a street demonstration in Los Angeles, which drew half a million people calling for the loosening of immigration laws. The United States Government is debating on whether to liberalize immigration laws and what to do with an estimated 11 million illegal people who are residing and working in the US.
This development affects the technology industry and all other industries. While a huge amount of attention is focused on the
many illegal immigrants who are doing lowly work that Americans won’t do anyway — such as factory and farm jobs — authorities must realize that the immigrant population is not only a source of low-cost labor but high-end innovation as well.
The biggest lobbyists for less stringent immigration policies are actually high technology industries, which believe that the only way to survive is to have access to the best and brightest talents the world has to offer.
In fact, in the famous book, “The World is Flat,” author Thomas Friedman wrote that economic growth and future of countries depend on their ability to attract and grow the best possible talents, whatever nationality they are. Many of the more progressive countries, such as Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada and Australia, have made it their mission to continue attracting skilled people.
You may note that some of the most innovative companies in the world were founded in the United States by immigrants.
Sergey Brin, (whose middle name is actually Mihailovich) one of the founders of Google, was born in Moscow. Andy Grove (whose original name was Gróf András), founder and long-time chief executive officer of Intel, is from Hungary. Pierre Omidyar of Ebay as well as Philippe Khan of Borland are from France. Jerry “Chih-Yuan” Yang, one of the founders of Yahoo is Chinese. Of course, let us not forget the Chips and Technologies, a leading PC chipset manufacturer and the creator of the S3 chipset in Silicon Valley, was founded by Filipino Dado Banatao.
The immigration law is one of the most contentious pieces of legislation in the US. At present, because of regulations, foreign students have to leave the US after completing their studies. Many sectors believe this regulation deprives the country of much-needed expertise.
The law raises the question of whether the US can continue competing globally if it is not producing enough highly skilled engineers who will sustain its technology industry.
Apart from companies, countries now live and die not by their ability to attract capital, but by their ability to attract talent.
I think we should also take cognizance of this. This is the main reason that the fastest growing countries are those that attract the most number of investments.
LOCAL IMMIGRATION LAWS. When drafting immigration laws, I think one question to consider is whether to allow foreign entrepreneurs to easily invest in the country.
I am writing this because two weeks ago, I was at the Bureau of Immigration to help renew the visa of our Japanese partner.
In the office, I saw at least 60 foreigners who were there on purportedly the same purpose. The small immigration office was overwhelmed. I was happy and sad at the same time. I was happy because there are many foreigners who seem to be interested in staying longer in the Phiippines. But I was also sad because I think the agency does not have enough staff members who can attend to foreigners. Unfortunately, many of the foreigners were not being served efficiently. I am sure more and more foreigners will continue to be interested in staying in Philippines, especially Cebu. Let us make it easier for them to do so!
BODY MASSAGE. I have always been a fan of body massage. When I was small, I was brought to “hilot” when I got sick. At that time, the “hilot” focused on your head or specific parts that were in pain.
Last week, I went to the newly opened Essenza Spa in Lapu-Lapu City. They offer traditional Filipino “hilot.” And then it struck me. Why aren’t there more establishments offering traditional “hilot”? If we are to promote this industry, why be known for Japanese or Thai massage? I took the “hilot” and it is effective and exhilarating as well.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (March 30, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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